This clip below, from an interview by an Israeli channel with an Iranian woman attending the world cup in Russia is fantastic. Why? because its an antithesis to all the hate and venom which Israelis are subjected to weekly by Iran’s leaders. It shows the side which many Israelis rarely see: the ordinary people of Iran.

Of course one person does not represent the views of a country of 80 million, but, I am still happy that for once there was direct connection between the two peoples. And more importantly, positive things were said.

I wish the national team of Iran the very best of luck in their game against Spain tomorrow night.

Last night Netanyahu appeared in a video in which he offered to share water technology with the people of Iran. The video has been produced with English and Farsi subtitles.

To further facilitate this process, a special channel has also been created on the popular messaging application Telegram. The channel is in Farsi and you can see it here.

This morning, at about 11 am Israel time, I looked at the number of people who had subscribed to the channel and saw 33,000 people had joined. I though “wow”. At the time of writing this note, its almost 11 pm here in Tel Aviv and the number of subscribers has jumped to more than 82,000 people!!! More than 50,000 in a single day (at least). Thats just phenomenal!!!

So what has happened? Why is Netanyhau these days addressing the people of Iran instead of attacking the regime constantly as was the case before?

It may be that he has new Iran advisors.

It may also be because Obama is no longer in office. When it came to Iran, Obama used to drive Netanyahu and his supporters absolutely crazy. They were convinced that Obama was gonna “give away” to anything and everything that the Iranians demanded in the nuclear negotiations, because Obama was “desperate” and “naive” and because Rouhani was able to buy him with his “smile”.

Now that Trump is in charge, it seems to me Netanyahu is more relaxed because when it comes to Iran, he trusts him more. And this has allowed Netanyahu to focus on other issues relating to Iran, such as its 80 million people.

Personally, I am opposed to Trump’s decision to walk away from the Iran deal. But lets hope that he succeeds in getting a better deal, whatever that may be. I wish Trump the best because if he fails, what Robert Deniro desired for Trump at last night’s Tony Awards may end up being our fate in the Middle East.

at least in the short term…my comments this afternoon to I24 news in Israel (in English).

If anything, the U.S. leaving the #Iran deal may actually lead Iran to expand its #nuclear program. It also seems likely that Iran will leave the nuclear deal, given how difficult it will become for Europeans to do business with Iran, expert @MeirJa tells @JeffSmithi24: pic.twitter.com/xcELxDWOUX

I have these two questions which I believe to be very important to the leadership in Israel and Gaza:

1. Out of all the places in Gaza: why is Hamas allowing Gazans to demonstrate in the dangerous and ultra-sensitive Israel – Gaza border when it bars Gazans from demonstrating inside Gaza against its own rule?

2. Out of all of the days in the year: why did Israel and US decide to open the US embassy in Jerusalem, exactly one day before Nakba day, which is one of the most politically explosive days in Palestinian history?